Insulating finishable panel

ABSTRACT

A rigid faced foam cored panel system utilized to produce an insulating finishable surface in interior and exterior applications. The long edges of the rigid foam panels may be indented to form a recessed space for tapping, applying joint compound and assisting in achieving a level finished surface. The inside surface of the rigid foam panel may be radiant reflective with air spacers attached to the reflective surface to produce the needed air space for effective radiant heat reflection. The interior application may entail using the rigid foam panel both as insulation and as a finishable varied color painted or textured wall or ceiling surface. In exterior wall or other exposed surface applications the insulating rigid foam panel may be covered with moisture resistive coverings such as stucco style textures.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an assembly of laminates and foam filled sheetproducts, both decorative and structural, and more particularly itrelates to rigid, usually fiber reinforced sheets of foam which areparticularly useful in thermal insulating applications and in mostapplications have a finishable face on at least one side and may have aneffective radiant reflective surface upon the other face.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Foam products have been reinforced and laminated to various facings togive them added strength or other desirable physical properties whichthe foam is incapable of providing. These foam products have becomeincreasingly useful in the building industry since they possess strengthcoupled with relatively low density and thus are well suited for use ascore materials in sandwich type laminates. The rigid foam laminates canbe excellent heat insulators because of their fine closed cellstructure. Many different techniques have been developed formanufacturing foam laminates, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos.2,266,730, 3,172,072, 3,554,851, 3,578,544, 3,617,594, 3,627,603,3,867,494, 4,118,533, 4,438,116 and 4,764,420.

One use of rigid foam products in interior insulating applications havebeen applied in basement or moisture prone areas. The rigid foam panelis attached directly to a masonry type wall either being glued or havingmechanical means to attach to the wall. The mechanical attachment meansmay include attaching interior face applied furring strips or some typeof clip mechanism. Furring strips may be attached first to the wall andthen the rigid foam panel is attached to the furring strip. In thisapplication if the exterior facing side of the rigid foam is radiantreflective then radiant heat may be reflected back to the exteriorexcept for those surfaces where the furring strips touch the reflectivesurface. To have effective radiant heat reflection there needs to be anair space between the reflective surface and the next facing surface.The space formed by the wall attached furring strips helps moisture tovent or evaporate.

To finish the interior face in the above applications sheetrock,paneling or some other covering is applied by screwing or nailing to thefurring strips or through the insulation foam to the wall surface. Someinterior faces of the rigid foam panels have a prefinished face andjoint covering strips or tape is applied at the panel joints. The jointsof the panels should be sealed to keep moisture and air from moving intothe interior space through the panel assembly.

In almost all rigid foam masonry wall applications where there is anexterior facing radiant surface furring strips must be first applied tothe wall to create the needed air space, approximately ¾ inches.Purchasing, handling and applying the furring strips are costly and timeconsuming. Secondly to finish the rigid panel there is considerable costand time for purchasing, transporting, handling and hanging thesheetrock or other wall covering.

In exterior wall applications the rigid foam panels have been usuallyused as insulating sheathing over a framed wall or substrate. The outerfacing of the rigid foam has not been used as a substantial penetrationreinforcing to substitute as part of the outer protective coveringassembly.

In exterior applications using foam panels to create stucco typefinishes customarily there has to be a fairly rigid sheathing and/orwater barrier is placed behind the foam before wire or plastic mesh,brown or scratch coat and final finish coat is placed on the surface ofthe foam panel. For the exterior stucco system to be effective inreducing penetrating moisture the exterior surface of the rigid foampanel could be a vapor barrier and if any moisture did penetrate pastthe reinforced rigid foam panel then a water draining or evaporationspace could be produced by a rippled or dimpled facing on the interiorface of the rigid foam panel. In many geographical applications it wouldbe advantageous to have the interior side of the rigid foam panel in theexterior stucco assembly to have a radiant barrier for radiant heatreflection. It would be also desirable if the number of assembly partssuch as surface coating applications and labor time spent to produce theexterior stucco system could be reduced by using a finishable reinforcedrigid foam panel and still provide an efficient, effective andeconomical assembly.

In an interior application if a rigid foam panel could be developed thatwould have a surface on the interior face of the panel that could betaped, joint compound applied, sanded and painted to the desired colorand have a finished sheetrock style look and meet code requirements forexposed applications, then there could be considerable cost and timesavings. Also if there could be an effective and efficient system tocreate the needed air space on the radiant reflective side while at thesame time attaching the rigid foam panels to a wall surface the then anattractive and economical radiant rigid foam panel could be developed.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a finishable reinforced rigid foam panel forexterior and exterior applications. In the interior usage it is a rigidfoam insulating panel that may have a radiant reflective face on oneside and on the other side a finishable surface able to be taped, jointcompound applied, sanded and painted and/or textured to a desired color.There is no need to place sheetrock or other covering over the primedreinforced surface of the rigid foam panel to meet fire codes.

The radiant foam panels are rigid and usually reinforced with fibersand/or metallic material, such as aluminum, composition of thereinforced face side such that the panels can usually span up toapproximately 24 inches and still keep a straight appearance. Thealuminum face on if there is a radiant reflective side is usuallyapproximately 1 to 4 mills thick and if aluminum is used as the otherreinforced face it may be 6 to 18 mills thick. It is a further objectiveof this invention that the finishable insulating possibly radiant panelwith foam core which is resistant to delaminating and is particularlysuitable for exposed applications.

One method of assembling and placing the interior finishable foam panelswhen there is a reflective face and a need for effective radiant heatreflection or the desire for electrical lines and other utilities to beattached behind the foam panels consists of first locating and attachingelectrical lines, cables, outlet boxes, switches or other utilities tothe wall surface where the finishable rigid foam panels are to beattached. These utilities should be attached close to the wall and notcome out past the wall surface beyond ⅝ inch if possible. Before thefinishable rigid foam panels are adhered the location of the outletboxes, switches and other panel penetrations are cut through the foampanels. Usually 6 to 8 fairly stiff foam air spacers which run in sizefrom approximately ¾ inch round to ½ inch wide short strips that areabout ¾ inch thick are applied spaced apart to the reflective/adheringsurface of the foam panel. Next, a low rise polyurethane foam styleadhesive such as Dow Great Stuff Pro wall adhesive is applied on thewall surface where the foam panel is to be place. Vertical strips of thefoam adhesive approximately ½ inches thick are placed about 16 inchesapart. The polyurethane style foam usually rises to about twice its'initial applied size. Then the radiant/adhering side of the foam panelis placed on the wall where the adhesive has been applied and pressedtoward the wall such that the foam air spacers are slightly compressedand then the panel is released. The process allows the fresh sticky foamadhesive to adhere to the radiant/adhering side surface and the foam airspacer keeps the radiant surface of the foam panel in an approximate ¾inch spaced relationship from the wall. The ¾ inch air space enableseffective radiant reflection; allows for moisture to evaporate and givesroom for electrical and other utilities to be placed between the foampanel and the wall surface. Screws or nails may be used to add attachingsupport to the adherence of the finishable rigid foam panel inconjunction with the foam adhesive, or screws or nails can be the onlyattaching means.

If a surface separating air space is not needed when attaching thefinishable rigid foam panel then the foam panels can be attacheddirectly without air spacers. If the adhering side of the finishablerigid foam panel is textured in a dimpled form then moisture may beevaporated between the foam panel and the attached surface.

The radiant rigid foam panel may be also be used to add insulation to anexisting interior wall where it may be hard to add insulation to theexisting wall which may be very useful in older structures. In thisapplication one may be giving up about 2 inches of room space but thereis the possibility of saving a considerable amount on heating andcooling and even making the structure, in some instances, visually andeconomically habitable.

The exterior application of the finishable rigid foam panel is usuallyin a stucco style finish wall assembly. Such assembly might consistfirst having a vapor barrier placed over the exterior frame of astructure. Then the finishable rigid foam panel is either mechanicallyattached through the vapor barrier to the wood, metal or masonry framingor the finishable panel is adhesively or both mechanically and,adhesively attached. The interior face of the rigid panel may be rippledor dimpled so as to develop a water drainage or evaporation spacesbetween the interior rigid foam panel face and the previous appliedvapor barrier exterior face. The interior face of the exterior appliedfinishable foam panel may be radiant reflective and low rise adhesivefoam, usually applied in vertical strips to the sheathing or waterbarrier, produces the needed air space for effective radiant reflectionand moisture drainage or evaporation. The sheathing or vapor barrier mayalso be radiant reflective with the vertically applied low rise adhesivefoam providing the needed air space. Next mesh tape may be applied tothe joints between the rigid foam panels and then an exterior jointmaterial (usually flexable) is smoothed over the tape and filling thejoint space. Depending upon the application one base coat and then afinish coat or, just one finish coat, such as an acrylic elastomericfinish, may be the final coating. The finishable reinforced surface mayhave enough strength and strong dimensional stability to only need onefinish coat which may be spray or toweled to various textures.

The usual sizes of the radiant rigid foam panels are 36 and 48 inches inwidth and 8, 9 or 10 foot tall. The thicknesses may vary but 1 to 2inches gives an overall insulation value for the 1½ inch thickfinishable radiant foam panel of approximately R-13 for walls and R-19for roof applications. Approximate 1 inch tapered indentures about 3/16inch deep can be made along the long-side edge of the finishable side ofthe foam panels. The indentures can be used for the placement of supportstrips, sheetrock and exterior tape and sheetrock or exterior jointcompound. The fairly rigid support strips are used to assist applyingthe rigid foam panel to a surface where the foam adhesive may not beadequate. Screws or nails can be applied through the support strip andinto the wall surface. On exterior and interior applications if thefinishable surface is strong enough nails and screws may be applieddirectly to the finishable surface as long as the screw or nail headdoes not penetrate through the finishable reinforced surface even thoughthe nail or screw heads may be recessed into the reinforced surface.Adhesive/foam may be applied between the foam panels for strength and toseal out air and moisture.

The finishable rigid foam panels may be used to insulate and finishattics or other studded or raftered applications. The air spacers may beused to create the air space for radiant heat reflection; ventilation ormoisture evaporation, between other forms of insulation, such as fibrousinsulation, or another surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional perspective view of a finishable rigidradiant foam panel with air spacers.

FIG. 2 in an overhead cross sectional view of the finishable rigidradiant foam panel applied to a masonry wall.

FIG. 3 shows in a side cross sectional view the finishable rigid radiantfoam panel's possible application with studs and/or rafters.

FIG. 4 in a cross sectional perspective view of a “one-coat” stuccoapplication compared to a finishable rigid radiant foam panelone-finish-coat stucco wall application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1. shows in a cross sectional perspective view a finishable rigidradiant foam panel 10 with the 6 to 8 mill finishable reinforced surface11, the tapered long edge indentures 12, the foam core 13, and theradiant reflective surface 14. Shown adhered on the radiant reflectivesurface 14 are the placed foam air spacers 15 that are spaced as neededdepending on the roughness of the wall surface.

Shown in FIG. 2 in an overhead cross sectional view is the finishablerigid radiant foam panel 10 attached to a masonry wall or other wallsurface 16. Foam air spacers 15 are shown adhered to the panel's radiantreflective surface 14 that have been pressed against the wall surface 16with the freshly applied approximately ½ bead thick foam adhesive 17.The foam adhesive 17 is shown adhered to the wall surface 16 and thefoam panel's reflective surface 14 with the two surfaces keptapproximately ¾ inches apart by the foam air spacer 15 creating the airspace 18. Sheetrock tape 19 and joint compound 20 is applied at thetapered indentures 12 on the edges of the foam panel. The finishableface 11 of the foam panel 10 can be painted or textured after thesheetrock joint compound 20 dries and is sanded. Another way to assistattaching the foam panel 10 to the wall 16 is by the use of a supportstrip 21 where nails or screws 22 attach through the support strip 21and foam panel 10 into the wall. The tapered indentures 12 help recessthe applied sheetrock tape 19, joint compound 20 and any support strips21 so that the finished joint can be fairly smooth. The reinforcedfinishable surface 12 of the foam panel is durable enough for screws ornails 22 to be placed directly through the foam panel 10 into the wallsurface 16 with the screw or nail heads 23 not penetrating through thereinforced surface 12 of the foam panel 10. The support strips 21 do nottouch the wall 16 so as to reduce thermal bridging. Sheetrock tape 19and joint compound 20 can also be used to cover over the support strips21 to an acceptable paintable surface. Electrical wiring 24 and outletbox 25 is shown attached to the wall surface 16 and extending throughthe foam panel 10. Sealant spray foam 26 can be placed between the edgejoint 27 to give strength and seal out moisture and air.

FIG. 3. shows in cross sectional views the radiant rigid foam panels 10used with a “C” stud or rafter 28; a “Z” purlin or rafter 29 and woodenstud or rafter 30. In each application is shown the reinforcedfinishable surface 11; the foam core 13 and the radiant reflectivesurface 14 of the rigid radiant foam panel 10. Either a support strip 21is used to help support the foam panel with nails or screws 22 appliedthrough the support strip 21 and into the stud or rafter or nails orscrews 31 are place directly through the reinforced surface 11 of thefoam panel 10 and then into the “Z” stud or rafter 29. The sheetrockjoint tape 19 and the joint compound 20 is shown applied at the foampanels' joints 27. In one example attached foam air spacers 32 createthe air space 33 between the insulation 34 and the radiant reflectivesurface 14. In another example the air spacers 35 (solid batten style orfoam) are placed between the radiant reflective surface and; the woodenstud or rafter 30, the “C” stud or rafter 28 and the insulation 36 tocreate the radiant reflective air space 37. Roof and/or wall sheathing38 are also shown.

FIG. 4. in a cross perspective view is a traditional water barrierdrainage system one-coat stucco wall assembly 39 compared to aone-finish-coat assembly 40 using a finishable rigid radiant foam panel41. In both assemblies are shown the wall framing 42. The water barrierone-coat system then has attached a substrate/sheathing 43, then aweather resistive barrier (WRB) 44, waterway rain screen drainage mat45, insulating non-reinforced face foam 46, reinforcing mesh 47, basescratch coat 48, brown coat 49, and then the final finish coat 50. Theone-finish-coat assembly 40 shows possible substrate/sheathing (usuallyoptional) 51, next is a vapor barrier 52 with vertically applied lowrise foam adhesive strips 53 placed on the face of the vapor barrier 52.Then attached is the finishable rigid radiant foam panel 41 with radiantreflective dimpled moisture draining/evaporating interior facing 54,insulating rigid foam 55 and the reinforced finishable surface 56. Nextshown is the joint covering mesh tape 57 and exterior joint compound 58applied at the rigid foam panel joints over the mesh tape 57. Screws orother mechanical attaching means 59 are shown penetrating through thereinforced finishable rigid foam panel 41 with the head of themechanical attaching means 60 not penetrating the reinforced finishablesurface 56. Exterior joint compound 58 may be applied over the head ofthe mechanical attaching means 60. An optional scratch/brown coat 61 isshown. The one coat of an elastomeric acrylic finish 62, with varioustextures, is shown applied over the finishable reinforced surface 56 andthe mesh/joint compound 57 and 58.

1. A finishable rigid foam panel assembly, comprising: a. one face witha reinforced surface; and b. the other face may have a radiantreflective surface; c. wherein the reinforced surface is usually made ofa metallic primed material such as aluminum but may be made of acomposite material and is fairly hard to penetrate; d. wherein thefinishable rigid foam panel can be attached to another surface by eitheror both adhesive and/or mechanical means; e. wherein the rigid foampanel when applied to an interior surface where the reinforced surfaceis does not need to be covered by another material to meet fire codeapproval; f. wherein the surface of the reinforced face can be finishedat the joints with a possible support strip, exterior/sheetrock jointtape and exterior/sheetrock joint compound; possibly sanded and/ortextured; and covered with one base coat and finish stucco coat or justa finish coat or painted to reach the desired finish as other stucco orsheetrock style finished surfaces; g. the foam core has good insulationvalues, usually around a 5 to 7 R-value per inch; h. wherein the foampanels' weight is considerably lighter than sheathing or sheetrock, ½ to⅓ the weight of sheetrock, and easier to handle than that of comparablesize sheetrock panels.
 2. A finishable rigid radiant foam panel assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein in an interior application air spacers,usually made of fairly firm foam, are placed upon the adhering surfaceof the finishable foam panel, create the space between the foam paneland the attaching surface for electrical lines, cables and otherutilities to be located and which are attached to the wall surfacebetween the radiant reflective/adhering face and the opposing adhered-tosurface.
 3. A finishable rigid foam panel according to claim 1, in aninterior and exterior application, having a face opposite the reinforcedface that may have a rippled or dimpled texture that moisture may drainout or be allowed to evaporate when said face is placed against anothersurface.
 4. A finishable rigid foam panel according to claim 1, whereinlow rise adhesive foam is applied (usually in vertical strips) to anopposing surface that will touch the none reinforced surface of thefinishable foam panel where the adhesive foam helps adhere the twosurfaces together; can produce the air space for effective radiantreflection and can assist in moisture drainage or evaporation.
 5. Afinishable rigid foam panel assembly according to claim 1, wherein thefoam core may be reinforced with fibers or other strengthening materialsfor added strength and support.
 6. A finishable rigid foam panelassembly according to claim 1, wherein fibers or other strengtheningmaterial may be added to the reinforced surface for added strength andsupport.
 7. A finishable rigid foam panel assembly according to claim 1,such that the strength of the reinforced surface is durable enough toaccept screws or nails to be driven directly through the foam panel,attaching the foam panel to another surface, such as framing members orwall: a. wherein the screw or nail heads do not penetrate through theouter exterior layer of the finishable rigid panel's reinforced surface,and; b. wherein said screw or nail heads, which may be slightly recessedand indenting the outer layer of the reinforced surface, can be coveredwith exterior/sheetrock style joint compound, possibly sanded and/orfinished.
 8. A finishable rigid foam panel assembly according to claim1, wherein indentures are created along the edges of the foam panels toaccept the recessed placement of possible support strips,exterior/sheetrock joint tape and exterior/sheetrock joint compound soas to assist in achieving a visually level joint finish.
 9. A finishablerigid foam panel assembly according to claim 1, wherein usually ininterior applications, the adherence side opposite the finishablereinforced side is radiant reflective and air spacers, usually made offairly firm foam, can be placed and adhered to the radiant reflectiveface, or in some instances to the adhered/opposing surface, to maintainthe desired depth of air space, for effective radiant heat reflection,between the radiant reflective face and another opposing surface thatthe radiant reflective surface will be attached.
 10. A finishable rigidradiant foam panel assembly according to claim 6, wherein said airspacers are used in conjunction with low rising foam adhesive which isusually applied to the opposing surface (usually in vertical strips)that the radiant reflective face is to be adhered. The air spacers maybe slightly compressed by applying pressure against the reinforcedsurface of the foam panel toward the adhered surface to promote goodadhesion to the foam adhesive. The air spacers may then be slightlydecompressed to obtain the desired air space depth.
 11. A finishablerigid radiant foam panel assembly according to claim 6, in that thecreated air space assists in ventilation and/or moisture evaporation.